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Deal on new rail cars embroils SEPTA in U.S. suspicions of China manufacturer

inquirer | October 07, 2019

An order for new Regional Rail cars is putting SEPTA in the middle of the U.S. trade war with China. In 2017, SEPTA awarded a contract to CRRC MA, which has a factory in Springfield, to build 45 multilevel cars to replace those dating to the Nixon era. SEPTA is paying $138 million, about $34 million less than the nearest bidder sought. The first cars are scheduled to arrive in 2020. CRRC MA is a branch of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp., a company owned by the Chinese government. The company’s practice of bidding significantly below competitors caught U.S. legislators’ eyes, and in September, the House passed a military spending bill that makes it significantly harder for CRRC to do business in the United States. Lawmakers say the company poses an economic and security risk to U.S. interests and shouldn’t be building critical parts of U.S. infrastructure. The bill, which still has to pass the Senate, wouldn’t be retroactive, so SEPTA will get its cars regardless.

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Divided Government Has Not Always Meant Slow Judicial Confirmations

This graphic was originally published on September 9, 2015, and was updated to reflect the most recent judicial confirmation data through the end of 2015. In 2015, the U.S. Senate has confirmed just 11 federal judges to the bench, and the number of judicial emergencies has nearly tripled. As the graphic below shows, this is the worst obstruction of judicial nominations in more than half a century. As a result, millions of Americans are being denied access to justice.

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Spotlight

Divided Government Has Not Always Meant Slow Judicial Confirmations

This graphic was originally published on September 9, 2015, and was updated to reflect the most recent judicial confirmation data through the end of 2015. In 2015, the U.S. Senate has confirmed just 11 federal judges to the bench, and the number of judicial emergencies has nearly tripled. As the graphic below shows, this is the worst obstruction of judicial nominations in more than half a century. As a result, millions of Americans are being denied access to justice.

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Symplicity joins the UK Government's G-Cloud framework for its 13th iteration

Symplicity | November 21, 2022

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Pega Establishes New Government Entity to Better Serve US Federal and Defense Agencies

Pegasystems | October 06, 2022

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Carahsoft Announces FedRAMP-Compliant Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government, Enabled by Okta

Carahsoft | October 14, 2022

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Symplicity joins the UK Government's G-Cloud framework for its 13th iteration

Symplicity | November 21, 2022

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Pega Establishes New Government Entity to Better Serve US Federal and Defense Agencies

Pegasystems | October 06, 2022

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), the low-code platform provider that builds agility into the world's leading organizations, today announced Pega Government LLC, a new corporate entity uniquely positioned to service the product requirements and compliance demands for United States government clients. With initial sponsorship from the United States Department of Justice, Pega Government LLC will architect, deliver, and support all cleared work for multiple federal and defense agencies as well as their partners. Pega has a strong legacy of success working with some of the largest US government agencies to help them achieve their modernization goals and transform the digital experience. With this new entity, Pega Government LLC will extend support to clients and partners working in sensitive and challenging government installations. With Pega Cloud for Government, Pega continues to support the mission of the most complex programs in government. Pega's solutions connect data and systems across operational silos, helping streamline organizational complexity while improving efficiency. "As we continue to evolve our work with the United States government, we recognized the need to create a dedicated entity to support the distinct security needs for some of our clients, Pega Government LLC was created to address the work that involves sensitive information requiring special clearance on an ongoing basis. We are proud our technology can support the ever-changing needs of the federal government and their focus on transformational efficiency." -Doug Averill, vice president, global industry market leader, government, Pega. About Pega: Pega provides a powerful low-code platform that builds agility into the world's leading organizations so they can adapt to change. Clients use our AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation to solve their most pressing business challenges – from personalizing engagement to automating service to streamlining operations. Since 1983, we've built our scalable and flexible architecture so people can meet today's customer demands while continuously transforming for tomorrow.

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Carahsoft Announces FedRAMP-Compliant Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government, Enabled by Okta

Carahsoft | October 14, 2022

Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, today announced the availability of the Okta-powered Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government. Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government enables government agencies to transform inefficient, outdated paper workflows into a modern process using digital forms that make signing and approvals easy, secure and legal. The Okta Identity Platform brings ease of integration for technology teams and simplifies users’ experience while ensuring their safe connection to the service. In addition, Okta’s Regulated Moderate Cloud has enabled Adobe to achieve FedRAMP Moderate authorization for Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government. E-signatures have helped to improve efficiencies in government for years. With FedRAMP authorization, Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government can now be used to support Federal mission-critical services like emergency management and social services as well as mission support services such as procurement and human resources. This product is ideally suited for situations where the loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability would have adverse effects on an agency’s operations, such as cyber health or digital services. “Okta is committed to help government technology teams modernize and secure their operations using Okta’s leading identity platform. Our collaboration with Adobe is designed to streamline Federal e-signature services, starting with a safe and smooth connection for all users, in line with the Government’s security requirements.” -Katy Mann, Vice President, Federal, Okta. As we were expanding our offerings to service our growing government customer base, we realized that we needed to be FedRAMP-compliant if we wanted to continue to be a top choice for our government customers, said Brendan Curley, VP of Public Sector Sales, Digital Media, U.S, Adobe. To provide our customers with a modern, centralized, secure and FedRAMP-compliant solution, we turned to Okta, a leader in identity authentication. “Adobe Acrobat Sign for Government is a major advantage for government agencies to improve and modernize digital experiences for their citizens, We look forward to providing the FedRAMP-authorized solution through our reseller partners to simplify and advance digital processes for the Government and its constituents.” -Cortney Steiner, Vice President who leads the Adobe Team at Carahsoft. About Carahsoft: Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Customer Experience, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. About Okta: Okta is the leading independent identity provider. The Okta Identity Cloud enables organizations to securely connect the right people to the right technologies at the right time. With more than 7,000 pre-built integrations to applications and infrastructure providers, Okta provides simple and secure access to people and organizations everywhere, giving them the confidence to reach their full potential. More than 16,400 organizations, including JetBlue, Nordstrom, Siemens, Slack, Takeda, and Teach for America, trust Okta to help protect the identities of their workforces and customers.

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